Reva M Midkiff
Low Mileage
Opinions on best place to get brakes for my x-1/9?
Need brakes
- Thread starter Reva M Midkiff
- Start date
Rod Midkiff
True Classic
I would sugest Bayless, But we might price around local just to see what is avalable.
We need to inspect your car before we do anything.
We need to inspect your car before we do anything.
Reva M Midkiff
Low Mileage
Thankyou Rod! Other Ideas welcome as well, please!
darwoodious
Darin Nelson
Performance brakes or replacement?
I picked up the Vick's setup recently for the fronts with stock (replacement rotors/pads) for the rear but there are options:
* MWB has "whoa brakes" - some kind of wilwood 4-pot calipers with larger solid rotors front
* Allison's does a pretty sweet FIAT 500 based wilwood 4-pot caliper with vented rotors front
* there's some crazy guy in Australia that did a complete brake conversion for racing!
You used to just go to Midas but I wouldn't trust my 40 year old car to any mechanic (let alone some chain).
I picked up the Vick's setup recently for the fronts with stock (replacement rotors/pads) for the rear but there are options:
* MWB has "whoa brakes" - some kind of wilwood 4-pot calipers with larger solid rotors front
* Allison's does a pretty sweet FIAT 500 based wilwood 4-pot caliper with vented rotors front
* there's some crazy guy in Australia that did a complete brake conversion for racing!
You used to just go to Midas but I wouldn't trust my 40 year old car to any mechanic (let alone some chain).
kmead
Old enough to know better
If going with replacement parts keep in mind the stuff you will get over the net from non Fiat suppliers is going to be quite unknown with little recourse.
At the very least buy good pads from one of our vendors, I bought a cheap pad and disk setup off eBay for our soon to be someone else's van and the pads are the suck. Poor pedal feel and long stops. The replacement pads on my Golf were good ones and my first stop when I change from one car to the other damn near puts me through the windshield.
Good pads will make a huge difference in the quality of the cars braking and you will be much happier.
At the very least buy good pads from one of our vendors, I bought a cheap pad and disk setup off eBay for our soon to be someone else's van and the pads are the suck. Poor pedal feel and long stops. The replacement pads on my Golf were good ones and my first stop when I change from one car to the other damn near puts me through the windshield.
Good pads will make a huge difference in the quality of the cars braking and you will be much happier.
carl
True Classic
Depends on what you mean by "needs brakes". If you mean hardware then I use our vendors as we need to keep them in business. I typically go to MWB for X stuff and Auto Ricambi for my spider needs. Brake pads seem to be a personal matter and you pretty much go with whomever has the pads you want. I still wish I knew what the ultimate street pads are. The Green Stuff pads I have now are way better than the generic crap pads that were on the car but I wish they had more bite to make up for the lack of boosted brakes.
For "non-upgrade" application with off the shelf components, brembo rotors and ferodo high performance street pads. should be available from our regular vendors.
Reva M Midkiff
Low Mileage
Thankyou fellows for your feed back very helpful
rocco79/138
True Classic
As previously stated: it depends on what "needs brakes" means. Really comes down to what you are doing with your car Reva.
I will share what I did as a basic driving X I received after a period of storage (several years). If your brake system is complete but not maintained disassemble and clean and refurbish everything.
All the calipers disassembled, cleaned, pistons polished, cylinders honed(you can get a small hone for a drill that does a great job) reassemble with new seals and bleed screws. Pay close attention to the sliders and their mating surfaces on the carriers. This will save lots of wear and headache to focus on this step! Replace the rotors, import ones are super cheap and Bremos are not bad but a bit more. Put a tiny smear of anti seize on the sliders(not a glob but just a hint so as not to create a dust magnet)
If you are unsure of the condition of the flexible brake lines replace them too. If the brake pedal does not return properly rebuild the pedal box and while that is out replace leaking master cylinders.
Lastly I installed new e-brake cables. Also buy good quality brake pads all around.
Once everything is assembled put someone in the car who can pump the pedal to your command. Top off the res and bleed the brakes one at a time. I have my pumper do an initial pump then crack the bleed screw and use my finger as a check valve. Leave the wrench on the screw and have your helper pump until bubbles stop coming through the line hold the pedal down and close the bleed screw move to the next. If when you have done the forth one the pedal is not really firm go around one more time. I have never pressure bled the system or vacuum bled the system. I like the fact that the master cylinder is moving the fluid... This is what needs to happen when you brake so bleeding the system this way makes darn sure that is happening. Check the fluid level each caliper and more if you think it might be getting low. If it runs too low you introduce more air in the system.
Since 1981 I have read everywhere how bad X brakes are and since that time I have only used the stock setup... Properly sorted and maintained I find them to be just fine. Going from my new boosted Forester to the X do they feel different yes but they are more than adequate for daily driver IMO.
If you want a firmer pedal I guess stainless steel braided flex hose would help, Ferodo pads have been said to provide more bite. You can add little stuff to enhance with little effort and not too much $.
If you want more/better there are plenty of offerings but even if you add upgraded bits you will want to have the basic system in top form.
As Bernice will tell you, I think, good braking is going to be a result of well chosen balanced components and not just more pistons or bigger calipers.
Although most of us including me would love to just buff it up and change pads IMO if you can afford a weekend and the investment going through the entire brake system is one of the best investments you can make.
Hope this helps,
Regards
I will share what I did as a basic driving X I received after a period of storage (several years). If your brake system is complete but not maintained disassemble and clean and refurbish everything.
All the calipers disassembled, cleaned, pistons polished, cylinders honed(you can get a small hone for a drill that does a great job) reassemble with new seals and bleed screws. Pay close attention to the sliders and their mating surfaces on the carriers. This will save lots of wear and headache to focus on this step! Replace the rotors, import ones are super cheap and Bremos are not bad but a bit more. Put a tiny smear of anti seize on the sliders(not a glob but just a hint so as not to create a dust magnet)
If you are unsure of the condition of the flexible brake lines replace them too. If the brake pedal does not return properly rebuild the pedal box and while that is out replace leaking master cylinders.
Lastly I installed new e-brake cables. Also buy good quality brake pads all around.
Once everything is assembled put someone in the car who can pump the pedal to your command. Top off the res and bleed the brakes one at a time. I have my pumper do an initial pump then crack the bleed screw and use my finger as a check valve. Leave the wrench on the screw and have your helper pump until bubbles stop coming through the line hold the pedal down and close the bleed screw move to the next. If when you have done the forth one the pedal is not really firm go around one more time. I have never pressure bled the system or vacuum bled the system. I like the fact that the master cylinder is moving the fluid... This is what needs to happen when you brake so bleeding the system this way makes darn sure that is happening. Check the fluid level each caliper and more if you think it might be getting low. If it runs too low you introduce more air in the system.
Since 1981 I have read everywhere how bad X brakes are and since that time I have only used the stock setup... Properly sorted and maintained I find them to be just fine. Going from my new boosted Forester to the X do they feel different yes but they are more than adequate for daily driver IMO.
If you want a firmer pedal I guess stainless steel braided flex hose would help, Ferodo pads have been said to provide more bite. You can add little stuff to enhance with little effort and not too much $.
If you want more/better there are plenty of offerings but even if you add upgraded bits you will want to have the basic system in top form.
As Bernice will tell you, I think, good braking is going to be a result of well chosen balanced components and not just more pistons or bigger calipers.
Although most of us including me would love to just buff it up and change pads IMO if you can afford a weekend and the investment going through the entire brake system is one of the best investments you can make.
Hope this helps,
Regards